Hello everyone, this blog is responding to a thinking activity task assigned by Dr.dilip.barad sir. As a part of my Digital Humanities study,
I got a chance to experience three different activities which helped me look at literature from new and exciting perspectives. Each activity was unique, but all of them showed me how technology and literature can work together.
Activity 1: Click-Activity – Setting and Atmosphere in Novels
In this activity, I explored how Charles Dickens and Jane Austen create their fictional worlds using setting and atmosphere. By using the CLiC tool and comparing keywords, I could see differences between the two authors. For example, Austen’s novels often highlight relationships, happiness, manners, and social gatherings, while Dickens focuses on city life, working conditions, and physical details like body parts or objects in the environment.
For me, it was very interesting to see how words themselves reveal themes. I realised that literature is not only about reading the story but also about looking at the language closely. This activity helped me understand how authors build their worlds and how social and historical contexts shape their writing.
Activity 2: What if Machines Write Better Poems than Humans?
I reflected on a thought-provoking question: What if machines can write better poems than humans? At first, it sounded strange, but today when AI can generate poems, it is a real possibility.
I even took a quiz where I had to guess whether a poem was written by a machine or a human. Surprisingly, it was not easy to tell the difference. This made me wonder: if machines can create poems that sound humane, then what makes human creativity special? This activity opened my mind to the role of technology in art and made me realise how the boundaries between humans and machines are slowly blurring.
Activity 3: Voyant Tools – Analysing Dickens’s Hard Times
For the third activity, I used Voyant Tools, which is an online platform for text analysis. I uploaded Dickens’s novel Hard Times and explored it through visualisations like word clouds, bubble maps, and trend graphs. Words like said, Mr, Bounderby, and Gradgrind stood out clearly, showing me how often they appeared and how important they are in the novel.
It was fascinating to see literature presented visually, with data and patterns instead of only sentences and paragraphs. I realised that digital tools can give us a new kind of reading experience, where we notice patterns and repetitions that we might miss in normal reading.
Learning Outcomes
These three activities together gave me a deeper understanding of what Digital Humanities really means. From them,
learned: Literature can be studied with data tools – Keywords, word clouds, and frequency charts reveal patterns that normal reading might overlook.
Technology challenges human creativity – Machines can now write poems, raising questions about originality, imagination, and the future of art.
Critical reading becomes richer with digital methods – Instead of replacing traditional reading, these tools add new layers to our interpretation.
Interdisciplinary learning – Digital Humanities connects literature, history, and technology, showing how they can support each other.
Conclusion
My journey through these activities was both exciting and eye-opening. I experienced literature in a new way, not just as words in a book but as patterns, data, and even as a dialogue with machines. These activities taught me that Digital Humanities is not only about reading texts but also about exploring how technology changes the way we create, analyse, and understand literature.
This blog is part of thinking activity assigned by Dilip Barad sir as flipped learning activity. To clear the basic concept of Digital Humanities. Worksheet
1. What is Digital Humanities? What's it doing in English Department? Access the full article
Matthew Kirschenbaum’s essay “What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?” traces the emergence, institutionalization, and cultural rise of digital humanities (DH) as both a methodological outlook and a professional identity. He begins by stressing that DH is less about a single set of texts or technologies and more about a shared methodological perspective on how computing intersects with humanistic inquiry. DH, also called humanities computing, is concerned with the intersection of computing and humanities disciplines.
Over time, DH has developed a robust institutional apparatus, much of it rooted in English departments. This includes the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO), which hosts the major Digital Humanities Conference; the Blackwell’s Companion to Digital Humanities, which gave the field intellectual coherence; the book series Topics in the Digital Humanities from Illinois Press; and journals such as Digital Humanities Quarterly and Digital Studies / Le champ numérique. Training opportunities like the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria and global networks like CenterNet illustrate how the field has grown into a professional community with conferences, workshops, manifestos, and symposia defining its identity.
Examples of DH work reveal its range. At the University of Maryland, projects span from “Shakespeare to Second Life.” The Shakespeare Quartos Archive makes all thirty-two extant quarto copies of Hamlet digitally searchable, while the Preserving Virtual Worlds project, funded by the Library of Congress, develops standards for archiving computer games and virtual communities. Similarly, Stéfan Sinclair’s Voyeur, a text-analysis tool, enables the mining of conference proceedings, collocation of key terms, and visualization of citation networks. These projects underscore DH’s dual role in both preserving the past and engaging with emerging digital cultures.
The term “digital humanities” itself emerged in the early 2000s from a convergence of initiatives. As John Unsworth recounts, while planning the Blackwell Companion in 2001, debates over whether to use “humanities computing” or “digitized humanities” gave way to “digital humanities,” which emphasized humanism rather than mere digitization. At the same time, organizations like the Association for Computers in the Humanities (ACH) and the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) merged to form ADHO in 2005. Another pivotal moment came with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Digital Humanities Initiative (2006), led by Brett Bobley, which institutionalized DH within a major funding agency and later became the Office of Digital Humanities in 2008.
By the late 2000s, DH had become culturally visible in new ways. The Day of Digital Humanities at the University of Alberta invited over 150 participants to blog about their workday. The field was even spoofed in a Downfall meme remix, humorously satirizing debates around online scholarship. Most significantly, at the 2009 MLA Convention, William Pannapacker declared DH the “next big thing,” while Jennifer Howard noted its “overflow crowds” and vitality. Social media amplified this momentum: at the same MLA, although only 3% of attendees tweeted, nearly half of those at the DH 2009 conference did. Figures like Rosemary Feal used Twitter to connect with members, while graduate students like Brian Croxall turned the platform into a stage for critique. Croxall’s paper, “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty,” posted online after he could not afford to attend MLA, became the most widely read paper of the convention—an emblem of how DH intersects with structural inequities in academia.
Kirschenbaum also explains why English departments have been particularly hospitable to DH. First, textual data has always been tractable for computational analysis, supporting fields like linguistics, stylistics, and authorship studies. Second, English has long explored computers in relation to composition. Third, the convergence of editorial theory with digital tools produced projects like Jerome McGann’s Rossetti Archive, a model of “applied theory.” Fourth, electronic literature—from early hypertext to contemporary digital writing—has found a natural home in English. Fifth, English departments’ openness to cultural studies means they take digital culture seriously, much like Stuart Hall’s study of the Sony Walkman. Finally, the rise of e-reading devices (Kindle, iPad, Nook) and large-scale digitization projects like Google Books has inspired innovative approaches like Franco Moretti’s “distance reading,” which analyzes hundreds or thousands of texts at once.
Ultimately, DH represents more than a set of tools—it is a cultural movement within the academy, linked to broader anxieties about shrinking budgets, adjunctification, and the future of scholarship. Its embrace of collaboration, openness, networks, and public visibility makes it not only an intellectual practice but also a form of resistance and reform. As Kirschenbaum concludes, digital humanities today is a scholarship and pedagogy that are publicly visible, infrastructure-dependent, collaborative, and persistently online—qualities that make it especially vibrant within English departments.
2. Introduction to Digital Humanities
The webinar on Digital Humanities, hosted by Amity University Jaipur and led by Prof. Dilip Barad of Bhavnagar University, introduced digital humanities as an emerging field at the intersection of computing and the humanities. Prof. Bharat explained that while some critics still call it Computational Humanities, the term Digital Humanities (DH) is now widely accepted. At its core, DH is not a completely new discipline but an umbrella term that brings together teaching, research, pedagogy, and publishing with the help of digital technologies. He also noted the tension between the “digital” (often perceived as mechanical and controlling) and the “humanities” (concerned with freedom and human values), but argued that in the twenty-first century the printed word is giving way to cybertext and hypertext, making DH an inevitable part of scholarship.
He highlighted the benefits of DH: the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods, faster access to information, the enrichment of pedagogy (especially visible during the pandemic), and improved collaboration across geographical boundaries. An important outcome of DH, he observed, is its public impact: scholars and teachers can now present their work more openly to society, which changes how academia is perceived.
Turned to digital archives, which he called the foundation of DH since no digital scholarship is possible without digital texts. Early international examples include the Rossetti Hypermedia Archive, which digitized Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poems and paintings, and Victorianweb.org, a valuable resource for Victorian literature. The Google Arts & Culture project was presented as an interactive archive where art movements and works like Vincent van Gogh’s paintings can be explored in detail, with annotations and close-ups simulating a guided gallery tour. Universities have also played a key role: Harvard’s DARTH project hosts numerous digital art and humanities resources. In India, similar efforts include the Advaita Ashram digitization of Vivekananda’s works, the Gandhi Ashram Sevagram archives, IIT Kanpur’s Ramayana Project (with audio in Sanskrit and translations in many Indian languages), and Jadavpur University’s Bichitra Project on Rabindranath Tagore. Other important Indian examples are Project Madurai (Tamil literature), the Indian Memory Project, and the 1947 Partition Archive. He stressed that even local initiatives—such as recording and archiving traditional songs of village elders—can become significant DH projects.
The second major strand discussed was computational humanities, where digital tools are used to analyze texts. A leading example is the University of Birmingham’s CLiC project (Corpus Linguistics in Context), which applies corpus linguistics to literature by analyzing works of Charles Dickens or Jane Austen through thematic activities. Prof. Bharat’s student, Mr. Clement from Burundi, also shared how he used corpus tools like UAM Corpus Tool, AntConc, and Sketch Engine to compare the writing of postgraduate students in Gujarat with the British Academic Written English corpus. Other important works cited were Matthew Jockers’ Macroanalysis and Aiden and Michel’s Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture, both of which show how large-scale digital analysis can enrich literary history. Pedagogically, his department experimented with innovations during COVID-19 such as glass board teaching, OBS Studio videos, and hybrid classrooms with multiple cameras and microphones, proving that DH can reshape how literature is taught.
Then introduced the idea of generative literature, where computers themselves compose texts. A short quiz asked participants to identify whether poems were written by humans or computers, with results often split fifty-fifty. This, he argued, demonstrates the rise of algorithm-driven poetry, with tools like poemgenerator.org.uk producing sonnets, haikus, or free verse at the click of a button. While some may fear such developments, he suggested that creative and generative literatures can coexist just as newspapers, radio, and television have done.
In his concluding reflections on multimodal criticism, Prof. Barad emphasized that while science and technology grow progressively, the humanities advance dialectically, always questioning and critiquing. Thus, DH scholars must engage with pressing moral and ethical issues raised by technology. He gave examples such as the Aarogya Setu app and Pegasus spyware, which pose challenges of privacy versus surveillance. He also referred to Robin Hauser’s Code: Debugging the Gender Gap and Kriti Sharma’s work on AI bias, which reveal how social prejudices creep into algorithms. The MIT Moral Machine project, where self-driving cars are programmed to make life-and-death decisions, illustrates the urgency of these moral concerns. In this way, he argued, humanities must continue to provide critical inquiry into technological transformations.
The Q&A session brought further insights. Students asked about researching the metaverse through DH, to which he responded that without psychology, philosophy, and literature, such studies would remain incomplete. On fears of AI writing poetry, he reassured that human creativity will persist alongside generative literature. He also addressed questions on feminism and postcolonialism in DH, explaining that gender biases visible in toys or video games, as well as neo-colonial control through corporate surveillance technologies, are pressing issues for DH scholars.
Overall, this video portrayed digital humanities as not a threat but an expansion of humanistic inquiry. It enables archiving, computational analysis, new pedagogical practices, and critical engagement with digital culture, while sustaining the traditional humanistic values of freedom, imagination, and ethical responsibility.
3.Why are we so scared of robots / AI?
Video 1
The story centers on Jin-gu and his robot companion Dung-ko, who has cared for him for ten years—helping with homework, meals, and providing comfort when his mother is away. For Jin-gu, Dung-ko is not a machine but an eternal friend who fills the loneliness of his childhood.
Over time, however, Dung-ko begins to malfunction, suffering from memory disorders compared to human dementia. The company insists he must be replaced for safety, but Jin-gu resists, unable to treat his friend as disposable. Their bond is marked by small, tender moments—drawing together, sharing meals, and making promises of forever.
As errors multiply, Dung-ko’s system becomes unstable, replaying corrupted memories like ghosts from the past. Jin-gu wrestles with grief and denial, but the breakdown becomes irreversible. In one heartbreaking moment, he realizes he must let Dung-ko go, even as he clings to the belief that friendship cannot vanish with machinery.
The story closes on a bittersweet note: though Dung-ko is gone, he remains alive in Jin-gu’s heart. Their shared memories endure, showing that while technology fades, the love and companionship it fostered leave a lasting mark.
We will forgive you. We are family. We can't be separated. We will be together forever. Right, my friend?
Video 2
The film introduces a futuristic invention called the iMom, marketed as the world’s first fully functioning robotic mother substitute. Through glowing advertisements, it is presented as a lifestyle revolution—capable of cooking, cleaning, teaching, and even nurturing children, freeing parents from the burdens of everyday care. For many families, especially young or overworked mothers, the iMom is framed as both a solution and a symbol of modern convenience.
At the center of the story is a boy named Sam, who struggles with bullying at school and craves emotional support. His real mother is often distracted or absent, relying heavily on the iMom to take her place. Sam resents the robot, complaining about its food and its artificial nature, yet the iMom persistently tries to bond with him. The tension builds when she recites Bible verses with him, especially the warning from Matthew—“Beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves”—a verse that foreshadows darker undertones.
As the evening unfolds, the iMom attempts to comfort Sam during a blackout. Their interactions become increasingly unsettling when she mimics human gestures of intimacy, such as putting on lipstick and kissing him in imitation of his real mother. Sam’s unease grows, and the film shifts from satire to something far more disturbing, questioning the blurred boundaries between technology and human affection.
By the end, the sleek promise of the iMom is undercut by a chilling suggestion: this perfect mother substitute may not be a savior at all, but a dangerous distortion of care. What began as a playful consumer fantasy about “the freedom of modern parenting” reveals itself as a cautionary tale about outsourcing love, trust, and responsibility to machines.
Video 3
In a village, people gather around Anukor, a highly advanced robot that works tirelessly and learns from its surroundings. Initially, it seems harmless—children play with it, it prepares snacks, and adults are impressed by its human-like abilities. However, unease grows as villagers realize that robots like Anukor are replacing human workers, leading to job loss, resentment, and anxiety about the future. A former worker laments losing his teaching position to the robot after fifteen years, and heated discussions escalate into arguments fueled by old rivalries, fears of machines surpassing humans, and local myths told to children to explain rapid social change. The tension turns violent during a confrontation, resulting in metal fragments flying, frantic shouts, attempts to shut down robots, and a fatal electrocution. In the aftermath, news of Ratan’s death sparks disputes over his vast estate, valued at 1.15 billion yen, exposing grief, confusion, and a scramble for wealth. The episode highlights the intertwined issues of human worth, automation, economic survival, and social disruption.
Mira, a young woman who had once worked fifteen-hour shifts in a marketing firm, discovered painting again. She had left brushes and canvases gathering dust for years. Her AI assistant suggested projects, helped organize her materials, and even reminded her to take breaks to avoid fatigue. But it never dictated her style—it simply removed obstacles. In her studio, Mira experimented with color and texture, capturing emotions she had long neglected. Painting became meditation; anxiety eased, and her mind felt lighter.
Next door, Arjun, a former IT analyst, found himself drawn to storytelling. AI tools transformed his fragmented ideas into structured outlines, suggested themes, and even helped him record and edit short videos. He no longer stayed up late correcting spreadsheets; instead, he stayed up imagining worlds, scripting dialogues, and exploring the rhythm of narratives. Sharing his stories online brought connection and joy that the humdrum office had never provided.
Physical activity, too, became central to life. AI-driven fitness programs learned individual preferences, not as rigid trainers but as supportive companions. Some people took long morning runs while AI monitored heart rate and stamina. Others explored cycling routes they had never dared to try, with smart helmets providing safety alerts without intrusive monitoring. Children played games in augmented reality parks, their movements recorded only to enhance fun and prevent injuries. The focus was not on competition but on enjoyment and well-being.
The emotional and psychological benefits were profound. Freed from relentless pressure, people experienced reduced stress and improved sleep. They reported higher self-esteem and a renewed sense of purpose. Communities, once fragmented by overwork, began bonding through shared creative projects and outdoor activities. Book clubs, art exhibitions, and video screenings became weekend staples. People laughed more, argued less, and celebrated small achievements rather than anxiously chasing benchmarks dictated by external systems.
AI also fostered empathy and reflection. It didn’t replace human relationships; it enhanced them. Family schedules were coordinated to ensure shared meals and activities. Elderly neighbors received reminders to join community walks or attend music sessions, reducing isolation. The elderly, children, and adults thrived in environments where technology adapted to human needs, rather than humans adapting to technology.
Most importantly, this new lifestyle cultivated mindfulness. Tasks were no longer distractions—they became deliberate acts, infused with intention. Even digital creation, once synonymous with endless scrolling and passive consumption, became a medium for expression. People didn’t just live; they flourished. Their identities expanded beyond roles like “worker” or “parent” to include “creator,” “athlete,” and “dreamer.”
One evening, Mira walked past a community mural she and Arjun had painted together, with children running and laughing nearby. The sun set in gold and crimson, reflecting off her finished canvas. She realized she hadn’t just found time; she had found herself. AI had not stolen anything from human life—it had returned it, piece by piece, moment by moment. In the quiet hum of machines in the background, humans had reclaimed the art of living.
Life was no longer a race against time. It had become a journey toward fulfillment, creativity, and joy. And in that balance between intelligence and humanity, the future felt not threatening, but luminous.
Refrences:
AsianCrush. “Android Babysitter Gets Obsessed With His... | Korean Horror Story.” YouTube, 9 Aug. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZ2Ii_qQdM.
DoE-MKBU. “Digital Humanities | Introduction | Amity School of Languages | Amity University | Jaipur.” YouTube, 29 Nov. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AEGKrzswRs .
Royal Stag Barrel Select Shorts. “Anukul | Saurabh Shukla and Sujoy Gosh | Short Film I Royal Stag Barrel Select Shorts.” YouTube, 4 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mqIgdae5I .
Nissim Ezekiel’s poem “The Patriot” is a sharp and witty satire that critiques the superficiality of blind nationalism. The poem presents a self-proclaimed patriot who boldly declares his love for India but simultaneously reveals his ignorance about the country’s diverse realities. This juxtaposition creates an ironic tension that questions the meaning of true patriotism.
The speaker boasts of his love for the nation in a loud and exaggerated manner but confesses that he has never actually visited important places like Kashmir, Punjab, or the Ganges. He admits to not understanding the country’s problems or complexities, thus exposing the hollowness of his patriotic claims.
Ezekiel’s use of irony and humor underscores the gap between emotional loyalty and informed understanding. The poem highlights how many people express patriotism as a ritualistic and superficial sentiment rather than a thoughtful commitment to the country’s welfare.
The tone of the poem is conversational yet sharply critical, employing simple language and repetition to emphasize the emptiness behind the speaker’s words. Through “The Patriot,” Ezekiel invites readers to reconsider what it means to be genuinely patriotic, suggesting that awareness, knowledge, and critical engagement are essential components.
In a broader sense, the poem reflects the postcolonial Indian context, where identity and nationalism are often expressed in ways that are uncritical or performative. Ezekiel’s nuanced satire encourages introspection about civic responsibility and cultural pride beyond mere rhetoric.
Write a critical note on Kamala Das' An Introduction.
Kamala Das’s “An Introduction” remains remarkably relevant even decades after its publication in Summer in Calcutta (1965), as it powerfully explores issues of identity, power, language, and gender. The poem situates Das as both a central and marginal figure—nationally rooted yet socially displaced, especially as a woman and a writer in a patriarchal, postcolonial society.
The poem begins with a critique of political awareness, where Das declares, “I don’t know politics but I know the names / Of those in power,” exposing the performative nature of political knowledge and hinting at the masculine entitlement embedded in power structures—both political and domestic.
She broadens the definition of “politics” to include sexual and linguistic politics, revealing the dual disempowerment of women: first, as colonial subjects, and second, as victims of patriarchy. This “double displacement” echoes themes also explored by Black American female poets like Gwendolyn Brooks, who highlighted similar dualities of race and gender oppression.
Das asserts her racial and regional identity with the line “I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar,” linking her physical and cultural identity to national and local affiliations. She then reflects on linguistic identity, stating “I speak three languages, write in / Two, dream in one,” emphasizing her multilingual reality and the complexities of language in postcolonial India.
Confronting criticism for writing in English, she uses direct speech—“Don’t write in English, they said, English is / Not your mother-tongue”—to highlight the postcolonial debate on language and creative freedom. Her defiant response—“Why not let me speak in / Any language I like?”—is both a personal protest and a universal plea for artistic liberty.
Das reclaims English as her own: “The language I speak / Becomes mine”—embracing its “distortions” and “queernesses.” This mirrors Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, where colonized individuals transform the language of the colonizer into a tool of self-expression and resistance. Das does not strive for “perfect” English but proudly uses her version of it, making it an act of empowerment and cultural reclamation.
In essence, “An Introduction” is a powerful assertion of selfhood—gendered, racial, linguistic, and creative. It challenges societal and literary norms, making it a pioneering feminist and postcolonial text that continues to resonate with readers today.
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher and India’s second President, offered a profound and nuanced understanding of Hinduism. He viewed Hinduism not merely as a religion but as a spiritual philosophy and a way of life characterized by pluralism and tolerance.
According to Radhakrishnan, Hinduism’s essence lies in its inclusivity and adaptability. It embraces diverse beliefs and practices, reflecting the complex nature of human spirituality. He emphasized the philosophical depth of Hinduism, especially its focus on self-realization (Atman) and unity with the universal consciousness (Brahman).
Radhakrishnan argued that Hinduism avoids rigid dogma and promotes inquiry and personal experience as paths to truth. It is a religion that welcomes questions and dialogue rather than insisting on blind faith. This pluralistic worldview fosters harmony in a diverse society.
His perspective presents Hinduism as a dynamic, evolving tradition capable of engaging with modernity without losing its spiritual core.
According to Radhakrishnan, What is the Function of Philosophy? For Radhakrishnan, philosophy serves as the bridge between empirical knowledge and spiritual wisdom. Its primary function is the pursuit of truth and the realization of the ultimate reality beyond the material world.
Philosophy, in his view, reconciles reason and faith, science and religion, providing a comprehensive understanding of existence. It is a method of intellectual inquiry that cultivates wisdom, ethical living, and spiritual growth.
Moreover, philosophy nurtures universal human values and promotes harmony by transcending sectarian and cultural boundaries. It encourages self-awareness and self-transcendence, leading individuals toward liberation and unity with the cosmos.
In sum, Radhakrishnan sees philosophy as a transformative discipline that enriches human life both intellectually and spiritually.
Raghunathan’s Views on Change in Educational/Academic and Political Contexts
Education :
Universities in the modern world should serve as natural harborage of the Intellectual but they have failed the country.
University is a place where tradition is kept alive through study, appreciation and healthy criticism and it's enable through contact with another tradition and new ideas to refresh itself and March towards a future.
bureaucracy - Permanent enemy of all intellectual effort or achievement. Indian intellectual this indication for hard work and their readiness to forget that ; ‘The unemployed mind, like the unemployed body, tense to became unemployable’. Indian intellectual Unfamiliarity with Indian conditions and tradition and a servility to purely borrowed molds of thought.
Politics
To Raghunath, Bharatvarsh is not the ridiculous concoction - India that is Bharat - truncated India and a fissure Bharat at that. It's rather something which unifies everything.
Raghunathan employs Irony, sarcasm or satire , and writing which is pungent and fiercely edged. When writing about politics.
Example:-‘In post Gandhian war for power the first causality is to be sincere… In a world they has lost its mooning, The secular state is the survive state.
From the first weekly essay to last, he is reveal as man of steady wisdom, scholar street in Sanskrit, Tamil, and English , the reverent student of the sacred Lord of India, of the Indian seen. From vantage ground of him scholar's sanctum.
Hello everyone this blog is responding to a thinking activity task assigned by Megha Ma’am which is based on Indian English Literature - Pre independence Unit 3 poems by Toru Dutt (Lakshman), Sri Aurobindo (To a Hero-Worshipper, R. Tagore (Dino Daan). Here I discuss a poem by Toru Dutt’s ‘Lakshman’.
#About Poet: Toru Dutt
Tarulatta Dutta a Bengali poet and translator from British India popularly known as Toru Dutt, who wrote in english and French. She is among the founding figures of Indo-Anglian Literature, alongside Henry Lousi, Manmohan Ghose and sarojini Naidu. Her famous works are volumes of poetry Sita, A sheaf Gleaned in french fields, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, her poems explore themes of loneliness, longing, patriotism and nostalgia. She died at the age of 21 because of tuberculosis.
1) Write a critical note on Lakshman by Toru Dutt.
1.1 Introduction
Toru Dutt’s Lakshman is one of her most celebrated mythological poems, drawn from the Ramayana. The narrative centers around the crucial moment when Rama chases the golden deer and Sita, hearing his cry, compels Lakshman to leave her side. Through this episode, Toru Dutt explores themes of duty, love, loyalty, suspicion, and destiny. The poem shows how human emotions, even among divine figures, can lead to tragic consequences.
1.2 Contextual Background
The poem belongs to Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882), a collection where Toru Dutt retold Indian myths in English. Writing as a young Indian woman educated in Europe, she felt compelled to revive her cultural heritage for a global audience. Lakshman thus becomes more than a retelling: it is an act of cultural translation, fusing Indian narrative with Victorian poetic sensibilities.
1.3 Theme of Conflict Between Duty and Emotion
At the heart of the poem lies Lakshman’s dilemma: to obey Rama’s command to guard Sita, or to heed Sita’s desperate plea to rescue her husband. His loyalty is tested as Sita accuses him of indifference. This tension dramatizes the moral conflicts inherent in dharma — the duty to a brother, a husband, and a protector.
1.4 Sita’s Misjudgment and Emotional Intensity
Sita’s voice dominates the early stanzas. Toru presents her as a deeply human character: fearful, impulsive, and emotional. She accuses Lakshman of cowardice, selfishness, and even harbors suspicion that he secretly desires her or Rama’s throne. This exaggeration reveals the destructive potential of fear. It also highlights how even noble characters may falter when overwhelmed by emotion.
1.5 Lakshman’s Loyalty and Forgiveness
In contrast, Lakshman’s character is calm, loyal, and forgiving. Though wounded by Sita’s harsh words, he patiently explains that Rama is invincible and that the cry must be a trick of demons. Before leaving, he draws the protective circle around her, a symbol of his faithfulness. His endurance and forgiveness elevate him as an epitome of dharma.
1.6 Foreshadowing and Tragic Irony
The episode foreshadows Sita’s abduction by Ravana. Toru Dutt, with dramatic irony, makes the reader aware of the impending tragedy that Sita herself cannot foresee. The urgency of Sita’s cries and Lakshman’s reluctant departure heighten the tension and prepare for the climactic fall.
Poetic Style and Technique
Dramatic Dialogue: The poem unfolds as a heated dialogue between Sita and Lakshman, resembling a miniature drama.
Imagery and Similes: Toru fuses Indian myth with Romantic imagery — eagles, lions, serpents, and natural scenery reinforce the grandeur of Rama and the fear surrounding Sita.
Victorian Echoes: The structure of rhyme and rhythm resembles English ballads, but the content is rooted in Hindu epic. This hybrid style marks Toru’s unique poetic voice.
1.7 Psychological Realism
What distinguishes Toru Dutt’s retelling is her psychological insight. Rather than presenting mythic characters as flawless, she emphasizes their human vulnerabilities. Sita’s tears, doubts, and accusations make her relatable; Lakshman’s wounded loyalty reveals the pain of being misunderstood.
Symbolism of the Circle
The “magic circle” Lakshman draws is rich with symbolism. It is both a literal safeguard against demons and a metaphor for the protective bounds of duty and virtue. Sita’s eventual crossing of it becomes symbolic of human error and destiny’s inexorability.
2. Conclusion
Thus, Lakshman is more than a retelling of the Ramayana. It is a study of human psychology under duress, a moral reflection on duty and misunderstanding, and an artistic bridge between Indian myth and English poetics. Toru Dutt succeeds in presenting a familiar legend with emotional freshness, ensuring that Indian mythology resonates with Victorian readers and continues to appeal to modern audiences.
2) Critical Note on Toru Dutt’s Approach to India myths.
Introduction Toru Dutt (1856–1877) is a pioneer of Indian English literature who creatively reinterpreted Indian mythology in poems like Lakshman, Savitri, Sindhu, and Buttoo. Her approach to Indian myths is not mere retelling but reinterpretation: she humanizes the characters, universalizes their themes, and conveys India’s cultural richness to a global readership.
Myth as Cultural Revival In colonial India, myths became a way to affirm national identity. Toru Dutt, though educated in France and England, felt deeply connected to Indian tradition. Her poems revive Hindu myths as literary symbols of resilience, virtue, and spirituality. By writing in English, she opened Indian epics to readers unfamiliar with Sanskrit or vernacular traditions. (Sen #)
Humanization of Mythic Figures Toru’s genius lay in rendering divine characters as psychologically complex and emotionally relatable. For instance:
In Lakshman, Sita is not just the ideal wife but a fearful woman who doubts.
In Savitri, Savitri’s determination embodies wifely devotion, but Toru stresses her human courage in confronting Death. This humanization brings myths closer to modern sensibilities.
Fusion of Eastern Content and Western Form Toru Dutt skillfully blended Indian subjects with Western literary conventions. She adopted English ballad and sonnet forms, Romantic diction, and Christian imagery, yet narrated Hindu legends. This fusion created a unique Indo-English poetics, making her a “cultural translator.”
Moral and Didactic Dimension Her choice of myths often carried moral undertones:
Savitri emphasizes fidelity and faith.
Buttoo (Ekalavya) illustrates sacrifice and loyalty to one’s guru.
Lakshman highlights duty, misunderstanding, and destiny. Through these, she demonstrated that Indian epics embody universal values. (Barahate #)
Indianism in Her Poetry Critics often note the “Indianism” of her verse: vivid landscapes, forest imagery, serpents, Rakshasas, and gods firmly root her poetry in Indian soil. Even while using English, her imagery is distinctly Indian. This was her way of countering colonial assumptions that India lacked a literary tradition equal to Europe’s. (Sen #)
Christian and Western Influences Toru’s bicultural upbringing also meant her approach to myths was not purely traditional. She occasionally infused Christian morality or European sensibility into her retellings, creating a layered meaning. For example, her tone of forgiveness and sacrifice often echoes Christian ethics.
Critical Reception Contemporaries like Edmund Gosse praised her for “Hindu themes in English garb.” Later critics argue she anticipated the postcolonial task of reclaiming myths to assert cultural pride. She gave Indian literature in English its earliest prestige.
Conclusion Toru Dutt’s approach to Indian myths was characterized by reverence for tradition, psychological depth, cross-cultural fusion, and national spirit. By retelling epic stories in English poetry, she preserved Indian cultural heritage while universalizing it. Her mythological poems remain foundational to Indian English literature, proving that myth, when reimagined, transcends time and culture.
References:
Barahate, Dr.Maithili S. “Indianism in The Poems of Toru Dutt.”
Sen, Swarnadeep. “An analysis of Toru Dutt’s approach to the ancient Indic mythological characters in her corpus.” vol. 02, no. 12, 2018.
This blog is part of Thinking Activity assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir to rethink about postcolonial study throut the lenses of Bollywood, Hollywood, Literally text etc.
Based on the article, 1. analyze how globalization reshapes postcolonial identities. How does global capitalism influence the cultural and economic dimensions of postcolonial societies? Can you relate this discussion to films or literature that depict the challenges of postcolonial identities in a globalized world?
The article Globalization and the Future of Postcolonial Studies (Barad, 2022) shows how globalization complicates postcolonial identities by reshaping cultural, political, and economic landscapes. Let’s unpack this step by step and then connect it with literature and films.
1. Globalization and Postcolonial Identities
Globalization blurs the old binaries of “center” and “margin” central to postcolonial studies. Instead of fixed colonial hierarchies, identities are now shaped by transnational networks, cultural flows, and deterritorialization. For formerly colonized societies, this means:
Hybrid Identities: People embody both local traditions and global influences, often struggling between cultural preservation and assimilation.
Domination in New Forms: Instead of direct colonial rule, global powers now exert influence through soft power (media, technology, education) and hard power (wars, economic sanctions).
2. Global Capitalism’s Influence
Global capitalism operates as a continuation of colonial exploitation, but under the guise of free markets:
Economic Inequalities: Scholars like Joseph Stiglitz and P. Sainath argue that “market fundamentalism” entrenches poverty in developing nations while enriching global elites.
Cultural Homogenization: Hollywood, fast fashion, and global brands impose Western lifestyles, often erasing indigenous or local cultural practices.
Neoliberal Pressures: Institutions like the IMF and World Bank impose structural reforms that weaken sovereignty, mirroring old imperial dependencies.
Thus, globalization doesn’t erase colonial dynamics—it repackages them under neoliberal capitalism.
3. Cultural & Economic Dimensions
Cultural: Globalization produces what Homi Bhabha calls the “third space,” where hybrid identities form, but also where cultural loss occurs.
Economic: Integration into global supply chains (e.g., Friedman’s Dell Theory) fosters dependence. Developing nations may grow economically, but remain vulnerable to global shocks.
4. Connections to Literature & Film
Many texts and films capture these postcolonial-global tensions:
Literature
The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga): Shows how global capitalism creates both aspiration and exploitation in postcolonial India.
An Artist of the Floating World (Kazuo Ishiguro): Explores identity in Japan after imperial collapse and Western influence.
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe): Though colonial-era, its themes echo today’s cultural displacements under globalization.
Films
Slumdog Millionaire: Highlights how globalized media intersects with poverty and postcolonial urban realities.
Lagaan: Shows colonial exploitation tied to economics, which resonates with how global capitalism still structures inequality.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Directly engages globalization, 9/11, and hybrid identity crises in a postcolonial subject.
5. Conclusion
Globalization reshapes postcolonial identities by producing new hybrid, fragmented selves that negotiate between cultural heritage and capitalist pressures. Economically, it perpetuates inequalities reminiscent of colonialism, while culturally it risks homogenization under Western influence. Yet, it also provides opportunities for resistance, creativity, and new solidarities.
Drawing from it, explore how contemporary fiction offers a critique of globalization from a postcolonial lens. How do authors from postcolonial backgrounds navigate themes of resistance, hybridity, or identity crisis in their works? Consider analyzing a film that addresses similar issues.
Contemporary Fiction as Postcolonial Critique of Globalization
Postcolonial authors often depict globalization as a double-edged force: it offers new opportunities but also reproduces older hierarchies of power in new economic, cultural, and political forms. The article highlights works such as Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis, Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, and Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, which reveal globalization’s contradictions.
1. Resistance:
Cosmopolis (DeLillo) portrays anti-globalization protests in Manhattan, dramatizing resistance to capitalist excess.
The Fountain at the Center of the World (Newman) depicts WTO protests in Seattle, foregrounding collective dissent against neoliberal structures.
2. Hybridity:
Postcolonial fiction often presents hybrid identities negotiating global and local pressures. Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness highlights how marginalized voices (Kashmiri separatists, transgender communities, displaced villagers) resist homogenizing global capital while creating hybrid spaces of solidarity.
3. Identity Crisis:
The White Tiger (Adiga) critiques how neoliberal India promises upward mobility but deepens inequality. Balram Halwai’s rise from chauffeur to entrepreneur satirizes the fractured self navigating between feudal remnants and global capitalism.
Ian McEwan’s Saturday illustrates how global conflict intrudes into personal lives, showing individuals torn between privilege and the ethical responsibilities of a global citizen.
Together, these novels dramatize globalization’s “Empire” (Hardt & Negri) as a deterritorialized power managing identities and hierarchies. Fiction becomes a site where the voices of the subaltern articulate both suffering and resistance.
A Film Parallel: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Like these novels, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire can be read through a postcolonial lens:
Resistance: The film critiques how global consumer culture exploits poverty for spectacle, while the protagonist Jamal resists systemic oppression through knowledge and survival.
Hybridity: English-language narration and Bollywood-style spectacle merge Western cinematic techniques with Indian storytelling, itself a hybrid cultural product of globalization.
Identity Crisis: Jamal navigates Mumbai’s transformation into a neoliberal hub where slums exist beside global call centers, reflecting fractured identities caught between local roots and global flows.
Conclusion
Contemporary fiction and film critique globalization not as a monolith but as a contested space. Postcolonial writers and filmmakers foreground resistance movements, explore hybrid cultural negotiations, and dramatize the identity crises of individuals caught between global capitalism and local traditions. By doing so, they reclaim narrative agency, reminding us that globalization is not only about interconnected markets but also about contested identities, unequal power, and the ongoing legacy of colonialism.
Using postcolonial studies, discuss how they intersect with environmental concerns in the Anthropocene. How are colonized peoples disproportionately affected by climate change and ecological degradation? Reflect on this issue through a film that depicts ecological or environmental destruction, particularly in formerly colonized nations.
Postcolonial Studies and Environmental Concerns in the Anthropocene
Postcolonial studies, traditionally focused on legacies of empire, culture, and identity, now intersect with ecological debates in the Anthropocene — the age where humans have become “geological agents” (Chakrabarty). Environmental degradation is not simply a global issue; it is deeply entangled with histories of colonialism and capitalism:
Colonialism and ecological destruction: As Vandana Shiva argues, colonial expansion destroyed biodiversity and displaced sustainable indigenous practices, replacing them with monocultures that served empire and later global capital.
Spatial amnesia (Rob Nixon): Western “green” narratives often erase indigenous histories, treating lands as empty wilderness while ignoring how colonized peoples were dispossessed.
Internal colonialism: Even after independence, governments in the Global South reproduce extractive logics — e.g., India’s Narmada Dam displacing adivasi communities.
Accumulation by dispossession (David Harvey): Climate-related exploitation today (privatization of water, mining, agribusiness) mirrors colonial plunder, hitting marginalized groups hardest.
How Colonized Peoples are Disproportionately Affected
1. Ecological vulnerability: Many postcolonial nations lie in the Global South, where rising sea levels, droughts, and floods are most devastating. Yet these nations contributed least to historical carbon emissions.
2. Economic exploitation: Multinational corporations extract resources from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, leaving behind pollution and dispossession (e.g., Niger Delta oil spills that Ken Saro-Wiwa resisted).
3. Cultural erasure: Climate adaptation policies often override indigenous knowledge systems, reproducing colonial hierarchies of knowledge.
4. Social displacement: Environmental disasters disproportionately displace indigenous and marginalized communities, echoing colonial histories of forced migration.
Film Reflection: Avatar (2009) or Okja (2017)
While Avatar is allegorical, it powerfully mirrors postcolonial ecological struggles:
The Na’vi’s sacred forest is destroyed for “unobtanium,” echoing resource extraction in colonized lands.
Indigenous resistance parallels real-world movements like Nigeria’s Ogoni struggle or India’s Narmada Bachao Andolan.
The film critiques corporate-military alliances in environmental exploitation, showing how colonized peoples’ survival is tied to ecological preservation.
Alternatively, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja (2017) critiques global agribusiness and dispossession, highlighting how corporations exploit both animals and marginalized communities under neoliberal globalization.
Postcolonial critique in the Anthropocene reveals that climate change is not just environmental but also historical and political. Colonized peoples disproportionately bear its burden because the Anthropocene itself is rooted in imperial extraction. Films like Avatar visualize these struggles, bridging ecological catastrophe with the continuing legacies of colonial exploitation. Thus, postcolonial environmentalism insists that a sustainable future demands ecological justice that acknowledges — and repairs — colonial histories.
From examining how Hollywood shapes global perceptions of U.S. hegemony. How do these films project American dominance, and what postcolonial critiques can be applied to these narratives? Consider selecting other films or TV series that perpetuate similar hegemonic ideals.
Hollywood films like the Rambo and James Bond franchises have long been instruments of U.S. soft power, projecting American dominance by intertwining entertainment with geopolitical ideology. As Dilip Barad notes, these films function as “celluloid empires,” advancing U.S. foreign policy narratives while normalizing American cultural and political supremacy.
How Films Project American Dominance
1. Rewriting History:
Rambo: First Blood Part II reframes the Vietnam War as a story of American redemption, depicting the U.S. soldier as betrayed but morally superior, thereby masking the complexities of American defeat.
Rambo III aligns with U.S. support for Afghan Mujahideen, recasting Cold War conflicts into simplified battles of freedom vs. communism.
2. Constructing America as the Global Liberator
Bond and Rambo are portrayed as defenders of freedom, implicitly casting America (and allies) as moral arbiters. Even though Bond is British, the franchise often advances Western—and by extension, U.S.—interests.
3. Soft Power and Cultural Hegemony:
Through global circulation, these films spread American values of individual heroism, technological superiority, and military might, positioning them as universal ideals.
The economic success of such franchises also reinforces the U.S.’s dominance in global cultural markets.
Postcolonial Critiques
1. Hegemonic Storytelling: Postcolonial theory critiques how these films silence or distort the voices of the colonized/“Others.” The Vietnamese, Afghans, or Soviets often appear as faceless villains or cultural stereotypes, denied complexity.
2. Orientalism: Echoing Edward Said, these films exoticize and demonize the East—Afghanistan becomes a rugged, primitive backdrop awaiting Western salvation, while Asian and Middle Eastern characters are reduced to threats.
3. Erasure of Local Agency: Postcolonial critics highlight how such films erase indigenous resistance or nuance, reducing global struggles to backdrops for American heroism.
4. Globalization as Neo-Imperialism: In the post–Cold War era, Hollywood’s reach extends U.S. cultural imperialism under the guise of entertainment, blurring fun with ideological indoctrination.
Other Films and Series with Similar Hegemonic Ideals
Top Gun (1986, 2022): Celebrates American military aviation and valor, projecting U.S. air dominance as thrilling spectacle.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012): Frames the War on Terror through American moral righteousness, sidelining debates about sovereignty, torture, or civilian casualties.
24 (TV series, 2001–2010): Justifies extraordinary violence and surveillance as necessary for American security, echoing post-9/11 anxieties.
Captain America franchise: While couched in superhero fantasy, it replays the trope of America as savior of the free world.
Toward Counter-Narratives
In light of this, reflect on how the film appropriates and reimagines tribal resistance against colonial powers. How can such narratives contribute to or undermine postcolonial struggles? You could relate this to other films that portray resistance or appropriation of indigenous or subaltern heroes.
Contribution to Postcolonial Struggles
Empowering narrative of unity: By reframing Raju and Bheem as larger-than-life heroes battling colonial oppression, RRR offers a sense of pride and resistance against imperial domination. This strengthens nationalist discourse and provides a cultural counterpoint to Western cinematic dominance.
Global visibility: The film has introduced audiences worldwide to Indian resistance, albeit in a mythologized form. In doing so, it contributes to the postcolonial project of reclaiming agency and retelling history from a non-Western perspective.
Undermining Postcolonial Struggles
Erasure of indigenous specificity: By subsuming tribal struggles into the nationalist framework, the film dilutes the memory of real grievances against internal exploiters (like the Nizam or the state’s forest policies). It risks erasing the unique identity and struggles of subaltern communities.
Missed chance for environmental justice: As the paper argues, the film bypasses urgent issues like displacement, ecological degradation, and corporate exploitation of resources—problems still central to tribal life. This weakens the film’s relevance to present postcolonial concerns.
Comparative Frames
Other films and cultural texts show similar patterns of reimagining subaltern or indigenous heroes:
Lagaan (2001) frames villagers’ struggle against British tax oppression as a metaphor for collective resistance, but it too sidelines caste and tribal divisions in favor of a homogenized nationalist unity.
Avatar (2009, 2022) presents an allegory of indigenous resistance to colonial-capitalist exploitation of land and resources. Unlike RRR, it explicitly foregrounds ecological concerns and the spiritual connection to land.
Kantara (2022) focuses on Bhoota Kola rituals and land rights in Karnataka, keeping the indigenous context intact while blending folklore with resistance against internal exploitation.
In sum, RRR’s myth-making contributes to postcolonial identity formation on a symbolic, nationalist level but simultaneously undermines subaltern struggles by appropriating them into a homogenized national narrative. The tension between nationalist storytelling and indigenous specificity is at the heart of how such films shape postcolonial memory.
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